Phillips' AJL308 clock radio / digital photo frame is like a real life widget

If you've ever wanted to pop up Dashboard outside of the desktop, this is probably as close as you can get. Phillips' multi-purpose clock radio / photo frame comes across like a swipe from the widget world, with its pleasant blue backdrop, "Polaroid" photo section, and cutesy little calendar page. If we didn't know better, we'd swear someone from Yahoo! Widgets was behind this. But alas, it's a bona fide Phillips nightstand-sitter, complete with a built in FM tuner, audio player (MP3 / WMA), USB, SD and MMC connectivity, dual alarm times, and soothing nature sounds. Sure, it won't tell you the weather, notify you of new emails, or play Sudoku... but it only costs a $129.99.

[Via Crave]

[EdwardsNh @ Jan 27th 2008 6:48AM]

Wait a minute. It's an alarm clock. It plays mp3s. But I can't play an mp3 for an alarm!? WTF

Also, you can't view slideshow when in clock mode. As a matter of fact, you can only view the first picture on your memory when in clock mode.

[heath @ Nov 8th 2007 8:30AM]

got for $99 bucks and it plays xvid files off of flash drives, sd card or even a portable hard drive... pretty cool for the price.. oh, it has an alarm too..

[Alex @ Nov 8th 2007 8:31AM]

Perfect for my desk at work

[Alex @ Nov 8th 2007 9:00AM]

Actually upon further review of commments for this device on Amazon:

You can't view the picture slide show in clock mode
No headphone jack
File names are limited to 6 characters
"random" play for pictures and mp3s isn't actually random
No effective way to scroll through mp3s or pics

Maybe Phillips' next iteration will address some of these concerns.

[Alex @ Nov 8th 2007 8:33AM]

where'd you find it for $99?

[heath @ Nov 8th 2007 8:49AM]

alex: circuit city

[Aaron @ Dec 16th 2007 2:53PM]

$79.99 at Target right now...

[Elmer @ Nov 8th 2007 8:36AM]

PhiLLips :S

[Luke @ Nov 8th 2007 9:04AM]

hmm maybe after x mas the price will be dropped.

[riggs @ Nov 8th 2007 8:43AM]

aw man if it had weather it wouldve been perfect :(

[Benson @ Nov 8th 2007 9:09AM]

I'm thinking a chumby sounds better. But then, I'm not big into widgets. Krell are good, but no widgets for me. (Krell from planet GNU, not from Altair IV.)

[Bob S. @ Nov 8th 2007 10:00AM]

Yeah, I do have to say, the lack of a second "l" in "Philips" is pretty noticeable in that photo.

Anyway, Target often has these for $99 too -- I bought mine there a few weeks ago. It's OK; as Alex says, it's a good one-piece desk item. If I see it again before Christmas, it would make a good present for a couple of people who won't really notice the flaws.

Philips generally makes good stuff -- my Series 1 Tivo is still chugging away -- but I wish they'd included a little flash RAM in the thing or tossed in some minimal SD card so we could get started a little faster. If I do give any as gifts, I'll include a $25 1GB SD card.

[rock99rock @ Nov 8th 2007 12:59PM]

why not include a $12 SD card?

[rock99rock @ Nov 8th 2007 1:00PM]

Rather, $12 1gb sd card

[Paul @ Nov 8th 2007 10:01AM]

It's Philips, with one L

[Diane @ Nov 8th 2007 10:11AM]

good gawd people.. the company is Philips. one L, always has been, the headline is wrong, as is the text in the article, and the tag, the image on the product is correct

[ashwinmudigonda @ Nov 8th 2007 10:28AM]

All I want from an alarm clock maker is the ability to set the days the alarm should go on or not. The cellphone makers nailed it and that is why I end up using it as my alarm source.

[HineyWipe @ Nov 8th 2007 10:28AM]

No battery backup (9volt). Next...

[tekdroid @ Nov 8th 2007 8:44PM]

yeah, it's odd. Unless the device itself keeps a small charge itself to preserve settings when the power goes out.

[Peter @ Nov 8th 2007 12:35PM]

Brochure: http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/a/ajl308_12/ajl308_12_pss_aen.pdf

[giislander @ Nov 8th 2007 3:14PM]

Does anybody know if this will work with windows sideshow?

[computer.dude.28 @ Nov 8th 2007 6:36PM]

sorry, it won't.

[Spanky @ Nov 8th 2007 1:39PM]

No atomic setting?

no true random image?

no slideshow while clock is visible?

no picture navigation capability?

what's this world a coming to?

[John McKee @ Nov 8th 2007 1:36PM]

there is no way I would be able to sleep with a large backlit lcd screen next to my bed, even after all these years I still think my Wave Radio/CD is the best alarm clock ever.

[Generic @ Nov 8th 2007 11:33AM]

now that is cool

[Tim @ Nov 8th 2007 2:25PM]

I like the idea of adding picture display functionality but... does it have a programmable dimmer? My alarm clock is pretty close to my face and would rather not have a bright light in my eyes. If it is programmable, then it could be set to dim say from midnight until 8AM or until the alarm goes off.

[rickf @ Nov 8th 2007 2:36PM]

It does have a dimmer mode that turns off the backlight, but I found even that is too bright. So I made a little cover for it I slip over it at night so I can sleep. :)

I have upgraded the ROM once so perhaps this is hackable down the road?

Rick

[Tony C @ Nov 8th 2007 1:30PM]

I saw this thing at Target and the demo unit's LCD display had a washed out image, horrible contrast and horrible image quality -- looked like a passive matrix STN panel! YUK! :oP

It could have had potential, but not when the manufacturer cheaps out on the components -- a weak 480x234 panel with 30ms refresh and 200 brightness. I guess Philips had to cut corners after adding all the clock radio, MP3 and calendar features when they priced it the same as their 7" photo frames.

[computer.dude.28 @ Nov 8th 2007 6:35PM]

IT PLAYS DIVX!!!

[toronado455 @ Nov 8th 2007 6:40PM]

A "real life widget" is EXACTLY what I want! Give it the ability to run weather software and count me in.

[Gon Yi @ Nov 11th 2007 10:28AM]

I went to Target to get this right after I saw the article. But, the quality of screen really sucks as its resolution.
I may gonna wait for next product line.

[Alec Saunders @ Nov 14th 2007 7:19AM]

Based on this article and the one on CNET Crave, I picked one of these up. Avoid it. It's a piece of crap.

More details here: http://saunderslog.com/2007/11/14/philips-ajl308-wait-for-version-2/

[DM @ Nov 14th 2007 4:06PM]

Somebody should make an app for this on Nokia N800, complete with media streaming.

[Dave @ Nov 28th 2007 8:02PM]

It's not that bad, and it has a nice body - though the screen could be better, and a backup battery would be nice!

Main reason I bought it was to have an alarm clock (it is noisy enough to wake me up) and because it has 24-hour time - you have no idea how hard it is to find a half-decent clock with 24-hour time...

[Alan @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:59PM]

I got one as a gift for a relative. I have no complaints about the screen, the sound quality is OK. If I were redesigning it I would add (1) BATTERY BACKUP [make it hard to pre-configure as a gift!] (2) a headphone jack (3) playlists support. I guess longer song names would also be welcome.

On the picture-quality issue: It depends on what mode it's in. In clock mode, you do get a jaggy/compressed picture. But one press of the "Picture/video" button fixes that.